Herb Greenberg's 8 Weirdest ETFs

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Greenberg's 8 Weirdest ETFs

Sometimes you wonder what they were thinking when they came up with some of these ETFs.

Some are just plain weird. Others are wrongheaded. Others just don’t make sense or are faddish, like the Global X Fishing ETF, launched in May 2011 to invest in the fishing industry — only to be shut last February after it failed to swim. Ditto for the Global X Farming ETF and the Food ETFs, both equally short-lived.

Many are created as a “product” for the purpose of cashing in on the latest and greatest, like the CurrencyShares Russian Ruble Trust (shut down) and the Guggenheim Ocean Tomo Patent ETF (also closed.) Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.

I might as well start the “Throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks” ETF. Which are the weirdest? With the help of Index Universe, I chose a bunch. Click ahead for the list.